Disclaimer: Don't own

If: ... I stink. I don't know what it is, but I had a hard time figuring out what I was going to do for a second there... but I got it all figured out, and here it is... once again a day late... Hope you all enjoy!

Warning: Violence! Blood!


KK : Thanks so much. I hope you enjoy Athens!

Abby : He he he... I don't know if you are. It might've been a bit confusing with that little AU tacked on the end, but the AU had nothing to do with the story. I just felt like writing it. Thanks for the review though.

YINGYANGBLOSSOMS : He he he... yeah. Now down to the action and violence and all that. I'm glad you liked the AU. It is a bit of a humor with all this angst and such lately...


Gaara peered out the window and looked at the place where Sasuke lived. It was a nice two story house in the suburbs on the outskirts of the city. Gaara was rather surprised that they were there, but then his mind brought up the fact that it wasn't just Sasuke this creep was after. This would be the place to find the older Uchiha, and it would be convenient to just stay here.

A part of Gaara's brain was reasoning that the pervert would want to take Sasuke back with him, but he wouldn't be able to leave Itachi alive in order to do so. The older Uchiha was fighting to get his brother back, Sasuke had said as much. There would be no way that the older Uchiha would just let his brother be taken once again by the same creep who had abducted him the first time around. No, they would have to eliminate the older Uchiha to regain possession of the younger. Itachi's life was in danger.

"We're gonna have to hurry," Gaara said looking at his siblings. They nodded. "Sasuke is being tortured, and I'm pretty sure they're planning on killing his older brother Itachi."

Again, both siblings nodded, slightly disturbed by how calm their brother was.

"I'm assuming that they'll be on the second floor. It won't be just one or two people, he'll most likely have at least six minions roaming the house," Gaara theororized. He turned stern on his siblings. "I'm warning you. They won't be pushovers."

Kankuro barked out a laugh and Temari turned to grin evilly at her brother, who was slightly disturbed by it.

"Don't assume we're pushovers," Kankuro said, turning to look at his brother.

"Yeah… we've been preparing to take down father for a while now, we can handle some minions," Temari added. Gaara frowned.

"Don't kill anyone," he warned. "If anything, I'll take all the blame for this. You understand me? No matter what, even if they find evidence that you were there; all the blame falls on me."

Both siblings looked like they were going to protest but Gaara held up a hand.

"I won't have you going off to jail because of me," Gaara said. "This is what I'm supposed to do, and this is what I have to do. I was going to do this alone, but it seems you two won't let me."

Kankuro and Temari looked at their brother. Gaara looked at them with pleading eyes.

"I'm asking for ten minutes," he said. "I want ten minutes before you do something stupid, namely helping me."

"But Gaara…" Temari started but stopped once she got a good look at her brother. Lowering her eyes she nodded slowly. Kankuro just clenched his jaw.

"Fine. But we're only giving you ten minutes," he said. Gaara smiled softly at his siblings and nodded.

"Understood," he said. Gaara opened his door and stepped out of the car, bringing his pipe and hammer with him, but leaving the piece of wood behind. Gaara hooked the hammer through a belt loop on his pants and took a deep breath. He began his trek down the sidewalk to the front door.

"Remember Gaara! Ten minutes!" Temari yelled through her now open window.

Gaara absently waved his hand over his shoulder, never pausing in his trek to the door. The trek was shortly ended and the red head reached out his free left hand to try and open the door. It was locked. Growling in frustration, Gaara backed up and rolled his shoulder. He was going to ram the door open.

Dashing to the door, Gaara rammed into it with as much force as he could muster, but he only heard a crack. Gaara grit his teeth, his shoulder was killing him, but he just ignored it. Gaara backed up for a second try. Ramming into the door with as much force as he did the first time, Gaara managed to bust the lock. Gaara kicked the door and it flew open. Surprisingly there was no one there to greet him.

Gaara firmed his grip on the pipe in his right hand and cautiously entered the house. Looking around a gauging his whereabouts was difficult since all the lights were out, but once Gaara's eyes adjusted, he knew he had to hurry.

Furniture was broken and strewn all over the floor. Both adjoining rooms were trashed. Gaara could see that the walls were dented and that in some places the paint was darker than others. Gaara had a feeling that it wasn't paint that was smeared on the walls.

Stepping further into the house, Gaara followed the entryway and stepped down the hallway that led into the kitchen. Gaara saw two people sitting at the table.

"Well well, look what we have here," said a malicious voice from behind Gaara. Whirling around, Gaara came face to chest with a large man. Gaara looked up.

"Looks like we've got a fucking intruder," said a female from the vicinity of the table.

"Watch your mouth," the big man snapped.

"Shut up you big fuck," the woman spoke. The big man clenched a fist.

"Why don't you both stop and take care of our little intruder here," the third person said. Gaara flinched and stepped back from the big man.

"Fine then," the big man said, reaching forward to try and get a grip on Gaara. The pipe came crashing down on his arm and a resounding crack was heard. The big man was screaming.

"You little bitch," the woman said from behind. Gaara whirled around, swinging the pipe in defense. The pipe smashed into the woman's face. "Shit!"

Gaara felt Shukaku take over his mind and could only watch as his body smashed the pipe down on the woman's skull as she was clutching her broken nose. Another resounding crack was heard as metal cracked bone. A large hand wrapped itself around his body's neck and Shukaku growled swinging the pipe at the arm attached to the hand. The big man cursed and let his body go. Shukaku rolled to the side and brought the pipe up again, striking the big man's knee. A scream was heard and the man fell.

"You little brat," the third man growled, grabbing several knives from the kitchen's counter. Shukaku smirked and charged. The third man threw one of the knives, grazing Gaara's side. Shukaku hissed but kept running. Pipe crashed into knife and the thinner piece of metal snapped. The third man stabbed his third knife into Gaara's side as the pipe connected with his neck, snapping it but not killing him. Gaara screamed in pain and clutched his hands to his side, Shukaku having lost control of their body.

Gaara frantically looked around for some cloth to wrap around the wound and saw the kitchen table was covered in one. Gaara stumbled his way to the table and grabbed the cloth, wincing as pain laced its way up his side. Gritting his teeth, Gaara pulled the bloody knife from his side. Another scream fled his throat and Gaara's knees gave out, his body collapsing to the ground. Gaara knew that he shouldn't take the knife out, but he had to, otherwise other minions would target it.

Pulling the cloth to the ground, Gaara used the knife to cut and tear it into large pieces that he could wrap around his torso. Binding the wound was hard, and painful, but Gaara tried to get it done as fast as he could, not wanting to give other's an opening that could be used to his disadvantage.

Grinding his teeth, Gaara managed to get back on his feet. Using the wall for guidance, Gaara stumbled into a different room, blinking as the lights were unexpectedly turned on, momentarily blinding him.

"Well, look what we have here brother," a male voice spoke from behind. Gaara whirled around, flailing his pipe, but he didn't connect with anything. The voice laughed.

"He certainly is an energetic one brother," a near identical voice said from behind him. Gaara whirled again his eyes finally clearing. Two identical boys were standing next to each other in the dining room, each leaning on the table behind them. Both boys held chair legs in their hands, ripped from the chairs that were busted apart all over the house. Gaara's eyes narrowed.

"I'm surprised you got this far," one of the brothers spoke.

"Those three certainly weren't pushovers," the other said.

"It seems we'll have to finish you off ourselves," the first spoke again. The second grinned. Gaara winced as his side hurt again, his blood already bleeding through the many layers of cloth.

"Looks like they at least wounded him," the second said. The first nodded in agreement and they both started to walk towards Gaara. Gaara took in a deep breath and grabbed his hammer, holding a weapon in each of his hands.

The brothers ran and soon Gaara found that they were on either side of him and he couldn't block all their blows. Shukaku had once again resurfaced in his mind and was itching to fight since Gaara wasn't quite holding them off, getting struck nearly every other blow. Shukaku was surprised the boy was still standing.

Let me control your left side. Two against two is much easier to handle twerp, Shukaku told Gaara. Gaara grunted in response and Shukaku gained control with the half that wielded the hammer.

Both halves of Gaara blocked the blows thrown at them. Suddenly he found himself kicking the boy in front of his half of the body, sending him crashing into the table.

Now! Shukaku yelled. Gaara spun and landed his pipe square on the jaw of the brother Shukaku had been fighting. There was a loud crack and several teeth broke free as the boy's head snapped to the side and he collapsed to the ground. A chair leg connected to the back of Gaara's skull, knocking out Shukaku. Gaara bit his lip to keep himself from passing out as well. He turned on unsteady legs to face the now livid boy standing behind him.

"I'll kill you!" the boy shouted and it was all Gaara could do to block the flurry of blows sent his way. Gaara's knees gave out once again and he crashed to the floor. The boy in front of him landed a kick to his mid section and Gaara coughed up blood, screaming in agony as the wound in his side flared up white hot pain. Gaara's grip on his pipe slackened and he let it go. The boy laughed maliciously and kicked Gaara again. Pain clouded Gaara's eyes and he started to wish that he had let Temari and Kankuro come with him.

Tightening his grip on the hammer, Gaara raised his head to see the boy crying and laughing at the same time, his head thrown back in his fit. Gaara grit his teeth and crawled forward until he was in striking distance. Using his last bit of strength, Gaara brought the hammer up, and smashed it into the boy's kneecap, crushing it. A scream filled with pain rang out through the house and Gaara and the second boy collapsed on the ground.